The main field of galaxies in the Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster, centred on the Markarian’s Chain line of galaxies, including bright ellipticals Messier 84, 86 and 87. At upper right is the star 6 Comae flanked by the spirals M98, M99 and M100. At lower left is the group of M58, M59 and M60, with M89 and M90 above them at left of centre. M88 and M91 are above those at upper left. Numerous NGC galaxies populate the field. The collection contains a variety of galaxy types: giant elliptical as well as spirals, both edge-on and face-on. This is a stack of 14 x 3-minute exposures, with the William Optics RedCat 51mm astrograph at f/5, and with the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1250, on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount, tracking but not guided. The field is 8° x 5°. Taken May 13, 2020 from home on a very clear moonless night. Despite the scope being out for a while before I started shooting, its focus shifted slightly during the hour of exposures as the night cooled, making the last exposures a little soft. All stacked and median combined in Photoshop CC as there were satellite trails in many frames.
This is a wide sweep from Coma Berenices (below) up to Canes Venatici (above) covering the northern section of the "realm of the galaxies" region, covering some 25° of sky from north (at top) to south. At this scale even the largest and brightest galaxies show up only as small smudges, but the field is filled with them! At bottom right is the open star cluster Mel 111, the Coma Berenices star cluster. The bright star at top is Cor Caroli, or Alpha Canum Venaticorum. The red star at the top is La Superba, Y Canum Venaticorum. This is a stack of 18 x 2-minute exposures with the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600 and the Samyang 85mm AF lens, on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker. Taken from home on a very clear night, April 13, 2021. Stacked and aligned in Photoshop, using Median stack mode to eliminate satellite trails. No darks or LENR applied.
